The Problem Of The Behinds Left Behind

February 06, 2006|By FRANK HARRIS III Frank Harris III is chairman of the journalism department at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven. His column appears every Monday. He can be reached at harrisf1@southernct.edu.

At the end of the third grade, this child's behind was left behind.

It was in Mrs. McMillan's class at Whittier Elementary in Waukegan, Ill., on a warm, sunny day in June. As my classmates jumped for joy, as they looked ahead for summer, as they exchanged info on what teacher they'd have in the fourth grade -- I quietly hoped no one would ask.

My hope went unfulfilled. Someone asked. It got out.

``Frankie flunked!'' they said.

Yes, this child's behind was left behind.

It was not a good feeling to be left behind while the rest of the world moved ahead.

Fortunately, my left-behindness was temporary. I worked hard that summer -- reading, writing, studying -- and earned a double-pass the next year. My parents would tell me years later that my being left behind was not only the result of my taking school less seriously than I should have, but of my parents and teacher working together in my best interest.

Essentially, the agreement was that I would repeat the third grade in Mrs. McMillan's class while doing fourth-grade work. It wasn't that I wasn't bright. In fact, she told my parents she could have passed me and been within her right to do so, but I just wasn't applying myself. She wanted me to do better. My parents wanted me to do better.

Ultimately, this child's behind caught up and moved ahead. Today, however, there are too many black and Hispanic kids who fall behind and stay behind. It is evident in the Connecticut Mastery Test scores. As children, their behinds are getting kicked when it comes to education; as adults, their behinds will get kicked when it comes to life.

The extreme consequences of what befalls the left-behinds were seen and felt last fall in the chaos of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. The everyday consequences are seen and felt in unemployment, crime, poor health and limited opportunities of left-behinds and in the shadows and silhouettes of their children.

I weigh this when considering the federal No Child Left Behind policy, designed to hold schools and teachers accountable for students' performances as measured by standardized tests; when I consider Connecticut's claim that the state must spend more money on testing and other programs than the feds provide funding for; and when I consider that the Connecticut NAACP sees the state lawsuit as a way for the state to avoid complying with the NCLB mandate and others involving civil rights initiatives.

The thing to consider is this: Who is demonstrating a concern for the best interests of the state's black and Hispanic students?

There is something to be said about the NAACP's position. If the state can say it should not be bound to No Child Left Behind because the federal government is not providing funding for it, the state could also opt out of the state Supreme Court's 1996 Sheff vs. O'Neill ruling that calls for the elimination of racial isolation in Connecticut's schools.

The state and the NAACP could sit down and talk about this -- the way Mrs. McMillan and my parents did.

I think sometimes about what might have been had I been left behind, had I not had a teacher like Mrs. McMillan and parents to push me.

If it's not No Child Left Behind that will lead to improving the educational and life opportunities for black and Hispanic children, then there needs to be something else, something more. Each day, the achievement gap widens between whites and the state's minority students.

Instead of No Child Left Behind, which involves teaching to the test, we should launch a campaign in the early grades grounded in reading, writing, studying -- what students need to be successful in all fields of learning.

Yes, instead of No Child Left Behind, call it Every Child Learns and Achieves.